


Cinderfella

by BingoBongo269



Category: Cinderella (Fairy Tale), Cinderella - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Magic, Physical Abuse, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, unintentional misgendering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BingoBongo269/pseuds/BingoBongo269
Summary: Basically the story of Cinderella but if Cinderella were a trans man.
Relationships: Cinderella & Stepmother, Cinderella & Stepsister(s), Cinderella & Stepsister(s) (Cinderella - Fairy Tale), Cinderella/Prince (Cinderella - Fairy Tale), Stepmother & Stepsister(s) (Cinderella - Fairy Tale)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is is based on the basic story of Cinderella, not any specific adaptation, so that's why the Prince and the stepsisters have names I gave them. I really wanted to write this because I'm a trans man and I like fairy tales.

“Ella, where the hell is my purple dress?!?” Katherine screamed down to the ground floor from her room on the third floor. “I’ve been looking for it for thirty minutes! You better not have taken it or I’ll tell my mother and you’ll be sorry!”

“I wouldn’t dream of borrowing your dress, Katherine.” Ella called out, resignation coating her voice.

“Then where is my goddamn dress, Ella?” Katherine’s voice was louder and more accentuated then before. “Because I haven’t seen it since I gave it to you to mend yesterday!”

“I finished mending it this morning, I’m just ironing it, then I’ll return it to you.” Katherine’s footsteps could be heard from everyone in the house stomping down the stairs at an increasing speed and strength until she reached Ella, who was indeed ironing her purple dress.

“You filthy wretch, I knew you stole my dress!” Katherine snatched the dress from the ironing board, the sudden movements causing Ella to burn her finger on the iron. “Did you think it’d make you look beautiful? Well, the joke’s on you, there isn’t a dress on Earth that could make you look less hideous.”

“I didn’t take your dress, it just took me until this morning to mend.” Ella began to tear up, though she didn’t know why, she should be used to her stepsister’s insults by now, but they never failed to hurt.

“I’ve seen you mend and iron a dress in under an hour, don’t lie to cover up your crimes.” Katherine narrowed her eyes when she saw the tears that had begun to fall down Ella’s face. “Don’t try to gain sympathy from me by faking tears, that’s pathetic and weak, even for you.”

“I would have gotten it done sooner but…” Ella paused to take a breath and attempted to calm herself while Katherine tapped her foot. “I had to mend your blue dress, Elizabeth’s scarf… and stepmother’s coat, along with my regular chores.” Ella bowed her head towards her stepsister. “I-I’m sorry there was a delay.”

“Well don’t take so long next time, girl.” Ella didn’t mention that she was three months older than Katherine. “If it does, I will inform my mother.” Katherine shoved the dress into Ella’s hands, brushing the fabric against Ella’s burn in the process and making it sting. “Now, finish ironing my dress and bring it to my room, quickly.”

Katherine stormed back up the stairs as Ella sighed and continued ironing.


	2. Chapter 2

Hours later, there was a knock at the door. Ella left her dusting to answer it, as the others in the house always complained if they had to answer it.

Opening the door, she could see that it was a messenger holding a letter with the royal seal.

“Hello, miss.” Something twisted in Ella’s gut at that, it must have been excitement that a letter from the King had been sent to the house. Yes, Ella decided, that must be it. “A letter for the household.” The messenger extended the letter to Ella, who hesitantly lifted it from his grasp.

The messenger nodded, turned around and ran down the pathway leading to the manor. Ella stared at the letter in awe, not quite believing it to be real. The King had sent them a letter, she could hardly conceive of the concept.

Ella knew she should have called out for her stepmother, but she wanted this to herself for a few minutes. She gazed at the seal, bright red and perfectly preserved. She desired to leave it undisturbed, full of possibility and at the same time desired to break it, and have answers.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps coming down the staircase. They were not the furious ones of her stepsister Katherine, nor the ones attempting to sound controlled, but in reality were a poor imitation of control, those belonged to Ella’s youngest stepsister, Elizabeth. No, these footsteps were as careful and controlled as Elizabeth longed for hers to be and filled with a rage tenfold that of Katherine. It was the type of rage that was so deep and wide that it had long since turned cold and very, very, cruel. They were her stepmother’s footsteps. 

“I heard a knock, Ella, who was at the door?” The words on their own were harmless, but the way her stepmother spoke never failed to send shivers up her spine. It was the way someone would speak before you collapsed from the poison they had put in your food.

“Just a messenger, stepmother, we received a letter.” Ella stated, voice flat so as to avoid betraying an emotion to her stepmother as the woman herself stepped into view on her way down the stairs.

“A letter, who ever from? We haven’t received a letter since the news arrived that your father died in that awful carriage accident. Do you remember Ella? What an horrid day that was?” Ella did remember that day, she could never forget it. It was the day she moved into the attic, when she was forced to do everything for her everyone while they got to live their lives, when her house stopped being a home, when her stepfamily stopped pretending to love her, and most importantly, when she lost her father, her favorite person in the world.

“It’s a letter from the King.” Ella spoke softly as her stepmother slowly strode towards her until they were a mere foot apart.

“The King, really? Why on earth would the King send us a letter?” Her stepmother said this with a laugh, like she didn’t believe Ella, which was likely.

“Well, it has the royal seal, so I just assumed.” Ella near mumbled as her stepmother snatched the letter from her hand, not roughly like Katherine had snatched her dress back, but quickly and with more precision.

Her stepmother slid her nails under the fold of the envelope and broke the seal. Her eyes slowly went down the page, widening more than Ella had ever seen them widen before.

“Katherine, Elizabeth, come down here, it’s extraordinarily important!” Her stepmother yelled with little malice and something that almost sounded like excitement.

Katherine’s harsh footsteps and Elizabeth’s poorly restrained ones could be heard as they followed their mother’s order. Once at their mother’s side, they both stood at attention, shoulders straight and smiles eager to please, although only Elizabeth’s smile was genuine.

“What is so important Mother?” Katherine’s fingers twitched like she wanted to curl them into fists.

“The King has sent us an invitation..” Her stepmother paused, seemingly too giddy to continue without a break. “to a ball!” 

Ella’s stepsisters were immediately affected, both of them jumping up and down and squealing for a good minute, but Katherine was the first one to come to her senses.

“Wait, but why? We don’t have connections to the King.” Katherine’s eyebrows furrowed.

“That’s the best part!” Ella was downright shocked, she had never seen her stepmother so joyous, it was unnatural. “Since the Prince has yet to marry, the King is hosting a ball to which every maiden in the kingdom is invited! And by the end of the ball, the Prince will choose a bride!”

Katherine and Elizabeth resumed squealing and jumping, while Ella felt exuberant. She had longed for a chance to escape the house, even for a day, and now here it was, delivered to her doorstep. Ella couldn’t help a tiny jump and the littlest of squeaks leak out. At once, her stepfamily turned to her, and their faces dropped, obviously having forgotten about her.

“What’s got you so excited, Ella?” Her stepmother uttered with one of her cruelest smiles. “Did you think you could attend the ball with us?”

“What’s preventing me from attending? I am an eligible maiden,” Something about using that word to describe herself made her feel suffocated, but she ignored it, the feeling was not important at the moment. “and I live in this kingdom, therefore I am invited.” 

“Well, you’ll be far too busy, of course! What with your usual chores, helping us prepare for the ball, there will simply be no time for you to get ready in time.”

“If I do it all in time, will you let me go with you? I won’t even talk to the Prince, I’ll keep to myself.” Ella knew she was giving all of the power to her stepmother, but she was too desperate to care.

“Even with those conditions, you still don’t have a dress, and Elizabeth and Katherine’s dresses won’t fit you.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Very well, if you keep up with your chores, assist all of us in getting ready, do not bother the Prince, and dress in an appropriate manner that does not embarrass us by being seen associating with you, then you may attend the ball.” Her stepmother’s cruel smile remained.


	3. Chapter 3

Ella was exhausted, but it was worth it. She had kept her promise, all the chores were done, her stepsisters and stepmother had immaculate hair, makeup, and not one tear in their dresses. Speaking of dresses, Ella had repaired one of her late mother’s nicest dresses, a pink one with many ruffles, and was currently appraising her appearance in the small mirror in her attic bedroom. 

However, as she looked into the mirror, all she felt was dread. Her dress was beautiful, and her hair was pretty, but she felt hideous and wrong. She wanted to rip the dress off of her body and curl up under her covers to hide from the world. But Ella shook this off, she had worked too hard for this night to let cold feet stop her, so she began descending the stairs. 

Ella hoped she had gotten ready quick enough, her stepfamily had only given her a half hour before they said they would leave her behind. “I’m ready, stepmother, just give me another moment to get to the foyer!” She called from halfway down the stairs.

“Oh good, you’re finally ready, we were just about to leave, you were taking so long.” There was a taunting lit to her stepmother’s voice.

Ella reached the bottom of the staircase and sprinted towards her stepfamily, eagerness to leave overtaking any previous dread. She twirled and practically skipped towards the door, already imagining the lovely music, the exhilarating dancing, the delicious food, and how much fun it would all be. 

Her stepmother grabbed her arm, her nails digging into her arm like claws. “You can’t honestly think that we’d let you come with us wearing those old rags, did you?” 

“They may be old, but they’re not rags, stepmother, I mended them so they’d look nice again.” Ella’s dread from earlier return, but this time it was different, she knew the source of her dread.

“I see what you mean, Mother, they’re far too destroyed to look presentable.” Elizabeth took hold of one of the first ruffles that made up Ella’s skirt and tore it from the waist. Ella cried out, surprised at first, but surprise quickly turned to tears.

“I agree with you, Elizabeth, they’re just too far gone.” Katherine tore one of the sleeves from the bodice.

Ella’s stepmother let go of her arm, revealing blood welling up from shallow wounds. “I’m sorry, Ella.” She said without a hint of remorse. “You’re just too unsightly to be seen with us. While we’re gone, make yourself useful for once and sweep up the cinders from the fireplace, you’ve forgotten to do that for the last few days.”

“You’re better off with the cinders, Ella, otherwise you’d have embarrassed us.” Elizabeth mocked while Ella tried desperately to prevent more tears from falling than already had.

“Ha, that’s what we should call you from now on, Cinderella, it perfectly represents you.” Katherine’s added mocking caused a small chuckle to come out of her stepmother as her and her daughters left Ella behind.


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as the door closed behind her stepfamily, Ella ran into the garden, not able to stand being in that house another minute. She laid on a bench and wailed, wanting nothing more to crawl out of her own skin and live another life, one where she had a loving family, one where her body made her feel comfortable. Ella didn’t know what body would make her comfortable, but she wanted that body more than many things in the world.

She was so caught up in her distraught, that it took her a considerable amount of time to notice the hand carding through her hair. She turned her head to see a graceful old woman with kind eyes and a gentle smile.

“Hello dear.” The woman had the one of the softest voices Ella had heard, second only to her mother’s, and perhaps it was this that endeared this mysterious woman to Ella. 

“Who are you?” Ella croaked, voice wrecked from sobbing.

“I’m your fairy godmother, and I’m here to alleviate the pain caused by one of the sources of your misery.” Ella’s fairy godmother pressed a kiss on Ella’s forehead, something only her mother had ever done. “That, and get you to the ball, I mustn’t forget about the ball.” 

“How are you going to take away my pain, fairy godmother.” Ella was certain this was a dream, but she was determined to enjoy it.

“How shall I explain this?” Her fairy godmother wondered aloud, expression calm and contemplative. “Imagine you’re trying to wear a pair of shoes that don’t fit, and it’s more painful the more you try to squeeze your foot into those shoes. And you would try to find more comfortable shoes to wear that fit your feet, except everyone around you is always insisting that the shoes fit you, and that you’re just not trying hard enough. That’s where I come in, I’m the cobbler who fits you with shoes that do fit and thus gets rid of the pain of trying to fit your feet in the wrong shoes.”

“I still don’t quite understand, godmother.” Ella had stopped crying and was instead both soothed and confused.

“Your feet are your soul and the shoes are your gender.” Ella sat up quickly at this, not believing that any of this could possibly be true.

“What are you talking about? That’s… I would know if my soul was a man.” Ella insisted, even though the thought of becoming a man was more enticing than she wanted to admit.

“If everyone is always saying that the shoe fits and that your pain is imaginary, how do you know you are in pain?” 

“I don’t know what to do!” Ella grabbed at her hair, intensely desiring to take what her godmother was offering, but at the same time terrified of doing so.

“Why don’t I use these conditions, I’ll transform you into a comfortable form and send you to the ball. If, by midnight, you find you do not like this form, the magic will give you back your original body, but if you desire to keep your new one, you will.” Her fairy godmother summoned a magic wand at Ella’s tentative nod, but as she began to wave Ella interrupted her with questions.

“If I’m in a man’s body, I won’t be a maiden, so I won’t be allowed in, and won’t my stepfamily recognize me, and how will I even get there?”

“Relax, dear, I can solve all of these insignificant things.” Her godmother resumed combing Ella’s hair with her fingers to sooth her. “When your stepmother read the invitation she left off the part that invited all eligible bachelors as well because she considered it irrelevant, and before you ask, I assume they were invited because it would be rather rude to invite hundreds of women and only have one man for them to dance with. As for being recognized, your stepfamily is not observant enough to do that if your appearance changes enough, which it will. And as for transportation…” Her fairy godmother gazed over to a pumpkin on the ground and a few mice that were scurrying around it. “I can provide that.”


	5. Chapter 5

Ella looked out of the open carriage door at her fairy godmother, who’s face held the most genuine smile she had seen since her father died. Ella shakily waved back and closed the door of the carriage, as soon as she did this, it started to move down the road. At first it was slow, then the horses began to speed up and soon the carriage was on its way to the ball.

Ella didn’t know what to think anymore. She had always been told that you were born the gender you were, and that was that. She didn’t know there were more options, but her fairy godmother had said that Ella’s mind and her soul didn’t match her body and it was only adding to her misery. Well, his misery, or was it their misery? Ella didn’t know.

“What am I to do? I can’t very well call myself Ella anymore looking like this.” Ella was shocked to hear the voice coming from her? His? Their lips? It was deep and sturdy and it felt right, it was perfect, Ella felt giddy just listening to it. “Though now that I think about it, I don’t much care for that name or being called she or her, it doesn’t fit right, and fairy godmother did say that no one from before would recognize me.” They barely recognized themselves, his previously long, blond hair was short, his chest was flat, and he was wearing the nicest clothes he had ever seen, he was going to a ball after all. The intricately embroidered coat and gloves were his favorite color, a blue that matched the sky, his blouse and pants were a matching white, and his shoes, safely secured to his feet with buckles, were black.

Across from where he sat in the carriage, there was a mirror, and as he stared into it, and kept taking in his appearance and his clothes, something dawned on him. His fairy godmother was right, a great deal of his misery had been tied to his body, and now that he was in the correct body, a great deal of it had evaporated. He kept looking into the mirror, at the handsome stranger staring back, and he shed tears of joy for the first time in many years.

“Edward, I shall go by Edward.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the pre-written chapters and from here on out, the updates will hopefully be about once a week. Let me know what you think down in the comments! :)

**Author's Note:**

> As of posting this, only up until chapter 5 has been completed, so the updates after that will be slower. Comments help motivate me a lot, so please let me know what you think! I really appreciate feedback! :)


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